Walking aids, such as canes and crutches, are typically provided with removable rubber-like tips, the purpose of the tip being to prevent damage to a walking surface from the walking aid, and also, more importantly, to give good adhesion between the bottom of the walking aid and the walking surface. The most common cane tip in use today is circular, when viewed from the bottom, and has concentric grooves in a slightly concave surface. This form of tip does not work well on all surfaces, and particularly ice and some wet floors. It has a further disadvantage in that, as dust packs within the cane tip, it loses its ability to adhere to wood floors. An ice pick, which can be swung over a rubber tip, is commonly used by people with canes, and a pick will give them some feeling of security on icy surfaces. However, it is necessary for them to swing the ice pick out of the way when they enter a building in order to prevent damage to the floors within the building. Another disadvantages of the common rubber-like cane tips is that they will not permit the cane to stand upon the floor in a free standing mode. Also, because the common tip has only limited flexibility, it does not give the user of the cane security when the cane is extended far in front of the user.
Various patents have issued which have attempted to address the above problems. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,154 to Edwards discloses a no-slip crutch foot with flexible fingers 56. U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,882 to Levasseur discloses a walking stick tip or foot having a large area and has 5 spaced apart cylindrical projections. U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,771 to Wilkinson discloses a cane tip of rectangular design, the tip having a large area with ridges 20 on the bottom surface thereof. In addition to the above patents, U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,746 to Sheenan discloses a shoe-like crutch tip, wherein the shoe shown in FIG. 7 is provided with cleats 22. Another U.S. Patent which discloses tips for walking aids is 4,098,283. However, none of the foregoing patented designs have successfully provided a structure which will adhere to virtually all walking surfaces.